In semiconductor chip manufacturing, a high number of individual semiconductor chip devices are formed on a single semiconductor wafer. At a later stage of manufacturing, the individual devices are singulated from the wafer, such as by dicing, sawing, laser cutting or some other physical separation technique. Singulation, whether by these example techniques or others, can damage some percentage of the individual semiconductor chips by causing cracks, chips or other physical damage or defects. Damage or defects also can be caused by other processing and handling or from other causes, such as cleaning or packaging. The particular locations and effects of the damage can be unpredictable. While some of this damage can be minor, some semiconductor chips will sustain damage sufficient to render them totally inoperative. Others may function initially but suffer from defects that cause them to fail either during end-of-line testing or, worse, during use of the device, shortening its lifetime.